Time Keeps On Slippin', Slippin', Slippin'...

 

Good grief, I thought in our senior years we became less busy.  Where does the time go? Wherever it's fled to, I'm running low on it this week, so I thought I'd once more raid my cache of graphics that I've stored from here and there and cobble together a little John Buscema goodness for you--mostly prior work that never saw the comics rack, with one or two homage prints thrown in.

Leading us off is someone else who appears to have run out of time--the Silver Surfer, who in an unpublished Buscema cover from his first series falls victim to none other than the heir of Frankenstein!

The Search for the Silver Surfer!

 

OR: "The Incredible Shrinking Sky-Rider!"

In mid-1968, Galactus would make his return to Earth, intent on re-enlisting the services of his former herald, the Silver Surfer, whom he confined to our world as penance for his betrayal--but also apparently done as a measure for the eventuality that the Surfer might be needed, for Galactus's return comes at a time when his hunger for the life-force of a planetary body rages within him due to his failure to locate a suitable world on his own. In a word: Galactus is starving.

For his part, the Surfer is reluctant to return to a life where he is responsible for choosing a world that must pay the ultimate price for sustaining Galactus--and so the Fantastic Four have decided to side with him, even as he searches for and finally locates a place of concealment where even the eyes of Galactus cannot detect him.

The fact that the Surfer can so casually alter his size (and to such an incredible degree) shouldn't really have come as a surprise to me considering the nature of his power (albeit at a reduced state, at this point in time); but this ability still came across as if it were pulled out of a hat. Given time, the Surfer might have even used the Micro-World (aka Sub-Atomica) to traverse the barrier of Galactus, as he attempted in the company of the Defenders (though as then, the attempt might have proven futile).

In the meantime, under duress, the FF have agreed to locate the Surfer for Galactus after fending off the merest sample of the reprisal that he can deliver to Earth and its population should he be defied. And so, after returning to their Baxter Building headquarters, Reed deduces from the last place the Surfer was seen the sky-rider's probable destination, a trail the FF intend to follow.

And yet the clock is ticking, with the mother of all timetables in effect--and every second the FF spend on their hunt within Sub-Atomica weighs against the self-restraint of a being who will not countenance delay, or, worse, failure.

Silver Surfer: Judgment Day!

 

One project from Marvel which completely slipped under my radar in 1988 was the Silver Surfer: Judgment Day graphic novel--plotted by artist John Buscema and Marvel Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco, scripted by Stan Lee, and clocking in at sixty-two pages. The story's climax features a confrontation between the Surfer's perpetual menace, the demon Mephisto, and his former master, Galactus--with Nova, the current herald of the planet devourer, playing the role of unwitting accomplice caught up in Mephisto's web of deceit.

In addition, as will become quickly evident, Buscema has decided to contribute full-page art for the entire story--perhaps a complication as far as tying together the visuals in a meaningful way while awaiting sufficient captions and dialog to hopefully provide a riveting and engrossing experience for the reader. This work would be years removed from the books of the Silver Age where Lee hit his peak in doing just that, for the most part--but while Lee would prove to be more than adequate in handling the Surfer's 1978 graphic novel delineated by Jack Kirby, a story where a writer had the luxury of dealing with more conventional panels which offered the opportunity for details and subtleties that would do a great deal to invest the reader in the story, here there is instead mostly grandiosity to account for, along with Mephisto's trademark guile and relentlessness which tend to transfer easily from story to story without much variation. Given the format which Buscema has settled on, is Lee up to what's being asked of him?

This excerpt from the story's Foreword almost gives the matter a sense of mitigation after the fact, though that may be reading too much into it:

All of that being said, it was an interesting venture for Buscema and Lee to undertake, and, I don't doubt, a successful one. John Byrne took his own steps with such a format two years earlier with a 22-page story for Marvel Fanfare--the difference of course being that it played out on a third of the scale, but also having the advantage of the artist and writer being on the same page, as it were, in terms of a tighter meshing of story and art (at least to the extent that such a format would allow). The same could be said for Walt Simonson's similar effort in a story published toward the end of his run on Mighty Thor just a few months later.  Here, the bar is raised a bit for Lee, who fared well with his collaboration with Kirby as well as his one-shot story with Byrne (the latter also having involved Mephisto) but must now go beyond DeFalco's and Buscema's outline to craft a compelling and engaging tale, with virtually each page holding a measure of responsibility for its success.

The story begins with another failed attempt by Mephisto to entrap the Surfer and thus seize his soul. And as the demon ponders his latest setback, it's clear that his resolve to achieve his goal is as steadfast as ever.

"Again the deadly plan of Mephisto has been put to rout! But what does it matter?" A refrain that has become as worn as a doormat by now where the Surfer is concerned.

Power Begets Power

 

Amid all the battles taking place between heroes and villains during the 1985-86 limited series Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, there were two characters who were instead more concerned with their own priorities in this strange setting they had been thrust into. For the world-devourer Galactus, his was to almost immediately seek out and confront this conflict's orchestrator, the Beyonder, and insist that this being use his clearly overwhelming and limitless power to end his endless craving for the life force of worlds; but for the infamous monarch of Latveria known as Dr. Doom, he, too, sought an opportunity to gain power for himself, having witnessed the great power which the Beyonder wielded to wipe out an entire galaxy as well as create a world on which the captured super-humans would battle.

The Beyonder would effortlessly rebuff both of them during the initial attempt of Galactus to breach the Beyonder's portal to his universe, and, from that point on, both would pursue their goals in their own way using their own methods: Galactus, by summoning his world-ship to facilitate his draining the planet of its life force (which would mean the deaths of all of those brought from Earth), and Doom, by turning his attention to the vast world-ship and its secrets. Finally, Doom's patience bore fruit, when Galactus, in preparation for facing the Beyonder once more, began consuming the incredible sources of energy which were available to him, starting with his world-ship.

Yet in his own preparations, Doom had secured the means by which he could take advantage of such a moment--and as the horrified onlookers on the planet fear the worst, Doom lays claim to nothing less than the power which Galactus looked to absorb himself!

In other words, Ms. Rambeau, it sucks to be you right now.

Given that Doom has always made bold claims of his "matchless mind" being able to adapt to situations that lesser men could not, it's fitting for writer Jim Shooter to show him having not so easy a time of it in attempting to keep his focus--and his sanity--regarding his own corporeal state of existence even as he struggles to cope with the perceptual shifts inundating him at these early moments of an entirely new existence. We're left to assume that Doom's prior experience in being able to absorb and control cosmic power has played some part in allowing him to weather the far, far greater flood of forces meant for the mind and body of Galactus--but we'll find his greater test in this regard is yet to come.

Yet even in as superior and overwhelming a state of being as he currently finds himself, there is still one other whose shadow falls over him (or, more to the point, in whose shadow he still remains), a realization that he cannot tolerate--and so he now girds himself for a winner-take-all struggle with the Beyonder, a contest which he has prepared for to a certain degree but will demand all the resources this man can bring to bear, just to stay alive.

The Coming Of Galactus! The Rise Of Doom!

 

When it comes to Marvel's Bronze Age tales of the 1980s, I don't often come across raves or even much discourse regarding that period's notable and heavily promoted event, the 1984-85 twelve-issue limited series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, which, at the time, was reportedly a financial success and sold more copies than any other comic in the previous twenty-five years. Almost nine years ago, the PPC featured its own review of the series as a whole--and while ultimately questioning the premise of the concept along with its outcome and immediate impact, there were also some positives to consider, though your own mileage may vary.

It seems clear that the story's selling point was in the select groupings of heroes and villains which were assembled on a newly-created planet to engage in a number of conflicts with each other, on a scale that went (forgive the word) beyond what could be found in regular monthly titles being published. (The scenarios being found in the 1977-1984 What If series, still being sold at the time, were perhaps the series' closest equivalent in that regard.) Yet if you look past the window dressing of the hero/villain battles (where, let's face it, only one group is going to be able to meet the Beyonder's condition to "slay your enemies" in order to claim the reward being offered), there were two characters in particular whose activities arguably made for more compelling reading--individuals who were literally worlds apart in power, but whose struggles coincided and came to overshadow the main focus on the heroes who were caught in the middle of it all.

Cry Dentist!

 

A few weeks ago, alert PPC reader M.P. made an interesting observation of how artists will at times exaggerate a villain's facial features, specifically their mouths and teeth (as seen in a related post).

Well, you didn't expect me to leave a carrot like that dangling in front of me, did you?

Or, as Captain Axis might put it:

World At War!

When one imagines the apocalyptic imagery of an entire world attacking the deadly, galaxy-spanning ravager known as Galactus, it usually takes the form of the planet's desperate population marshaling whatever forces it has and launching them in vain to repel a being that no conventional weapons had a prayer of stopping--in tandem with a mad rush to evacuate their planet (assuming they had the means) and escape certain death.

Of course, when it's the physical planet itself which wages that battle, even Galactus finds himself dropping his dispassionate demeanor and girding himself for a *ahem* world war.

Ego, the living planet, was described by the Rigellian Recorder thus:

While writer Stan Lee's broadly descriptive parlance is in full swing in the Recorder's assessment, the quick takeaway is that Ego is a living planet in a more literal sense, beyond the definition of a world which has the necessary conditions for life to grow and thrive. As for the fluidic Bio-verse, apparently it's a "universe" within a universe--with both the Bio-verse and Ego existing at the center of the Black Galaxy, a designation which piques one's curiosity if anything does. After all, an entire galaxy shrouded in darkness (assumedly to an even greater extent than what space itself would represent to the naked eye) and hosting a region of space composed of biological matter is bound to have one heck of an explanation for it.  For all we know, the Bio-verse fills the Black Galaxy.

Thor's dealings here with Ego come at the behest of the Rigellian Colonizers, who were willing to forego their attempted acquisition of Earth in exchange for meeting the growing (i.e., expansive) threat of the Black Galaxy. But it's another figure who demands our attention today--one whose preliminary analysis suggests that such a galaxy, with its strong readings of life energy, bears investigation.

(Almost) All You Ever Wanted To Know About Phoenix...

If you were one of those Marvel readers who went as far as you could in trying to make some sort of sense of all the subsequent appearances of Phoenix after the "death" of Jean Grey, let me just say that I'm awed by your tenacity--you've actually tried to bring order to chaos, and unfortunately may have come up empty like the rest of us. If Dark Phoenix were here right now, she would likely be amused at our effrontery and chide us for our hopelessness; nevertheless, we've likely at one time or another been part of a loose-knit circle of ardent and dogged "Phoenix-chasers" who occasionally attempt to connect the dots in the hope of justifying the many, many appearances of Phoenix though the decades that tried to build on what came before.

As your humble host at the PPC, I believe I threw in the towel on the subject at some point, though it's still enjoyable to come across a Phoenix story from the past and pull on its thread a bit to see how well it adds to--or how much it detracts from--the character's mystique (though referring to the Phoenix force as a "character" feels a little like reaching the point of no return). One such story involves Rachel Summers, herself one of those threads which was woven into the story of Phoenix simply by virtue of the fact that she is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from another timeline. Rachel has the dubious distinction of being the character who started the ball rolling again on Phoenix following the end of the original storyline; and after she made a number of appearances in X-Men adventures, she was plugged in as a charter member of Excalibur, a new super-group based in Great Britain, as a sort of "Phoenix-lite" whose own connection to the Phoenix force unfolded as the book progressed.

In terms of becoming a full-blown Phoenix in her own right, however, we'll discover that Rachel finally gets to have her cake and eat it too following the events of a battle which leaves her fate uncertain--until the Phoenix itself intervenes with its own solution.

The scene where Phoenix returns to the stars (with Rachel "in tow," as it were) takes place in a story written by Alan Davis bearing a title which Phoenix-chasers no doubt applauded for its audacity, if not its accuracy: "All You Ever Wanted To Know About Phoenix... But Were Afraid To Ask," a truly laudable attempt to tie together the many appearances of Phoenix to date (in this case, July of 1992), though the story narrows its focus to those instances leading up to and involving the power's manifestation in Rachel (i.e., "All You Ever Wanted To Know About Excalibur's Phoenix..."). Davis would have probably needed an Omnibus, along with a few gallons of espresso, to tackle and bring coherence to the entire saga of Phoenix--even Mark Gruenwald would likely have balked at the task, and that's saying something.

At any rate, it's the Phoenix itself that now takes center stage in its ongoing story, sharing Rachel's body but suppressing her consciousness as Rachel continues to heal. The question is: What does it plan to do, while still tied to the mortal plane?

The Guiding Light

If you're a New York club performer with your own light show, you'd probably be flattered if an alien known in part for his aloofness toward lesser beings takes notice of you, a single mortal, out of an entire universe of mortals. (That's bound to look impressive on your bill, eh?) But as hard as it is to believe that the being known as Galactus has no desire to take in the New York disco circuit, the songstress named Dazzler discovered that Galactus's interest in her had nothing to do with her talent to work a club crowd. Tapped to retrieve his rebellious herald, Terrax, from the black hole he plunged into to escape his master, a gig that seemed perfect for someone who knows how to wield a mic, Alison Blaire succeeded in her task, and later managed to convince Galactus to spare Terrax's life before the world devourer returned her to Earth.

Six months later (our time), however, writer Danny Fingeroth decides to take his earlier story a little further in concept, as part of a What If tale--and Dazzler's "audience" with Galactus (heh, get it?) has a different outcome, both for Terrax and for herself.

We'd already seen that Galactus had shown a certain amount of not only tolerance but sympathy toward Dazzler in regard to her conscription in securing Terrax for him--but as coldly as he regards her here, it seems that he has put such concerns aside. The only other interpretation left open to us is that he's developed a sort of attachment to her (if a minimal and distant one), ignoring the sobering words of Drone R-11 on the subject. Whatever his thoughts, his reason distills down to the simple need that he has for someone to search ahead for worlds which will sustain his existence. In Dazzler, he has the vessel, and the means to compel her compliance.

And with Dazzler stepping up for the sake of the Earth, it seems Fingeroth's premise is unavoidable at this point:

(Come on, admit it--that question must have been gnawing at you for years!)

When Calls Galactus, Cancel Your Engagements

Whatever your thoughts on the mutant performer known as Dazzler, you probably would never have considered the possibility that she might one day be sought after by...

Yes, I can guess what you're taking away from this scene:

• Galactus is going after Dazzler, yet he's not going to be interested at all in consuming a smorgasbord like the Earth while he's there? No wonder he brags about "The will(power) of Galactus..."

OR:

• Galactus occasionally indulges in "reviewing" a pin-up file of Earth females? The big perv...

The main takeaway of course being: Why Dazzler? Only Dazzler can help him with his dilemma? This is sounding more strange by the moment.

The true answer, however, is likely rooted in sales. Ten issues into her 1981 series, and Dazzler is running through guest-stars like a super-human version of Jimmy Fallon, and none of her guests are lightweights:

Ah, the '80s. Remember when Galactus's origin used to be pretty simple, before a revisionist or two got hold of it? This is all you really had to know:

So again, unless Dazzler's real parents are Celestials, why is she the one person in the universe (in the universe, mind you) that a being such as Galactus cannot accomplish by virtue of his own power and might? In a story plotted by Tom DeFalco and scripted by Danny Fingeroth, the answer lies with his most recent herald, Terrax the Tamer, who betrayed his master by abandoning him in favor of seeking out a world to conquer and rule, just as he did when he was Tyros the Terrible (or Tyros the Tamer, depending on which of his former cowed minions you're asking). Yet when Galactus communicated with him and ordered his return to face retribution, Terrax fled into a black hole--an environment Galactus hesitated to enter, out of concern that "the introduction of so energy-intensive a being as himself into the black hole would destroy it, and Terrax with it." Instead, Dazzler was chosen for the task because of her ability to radiate luminescent energy, allowing her to navigate the hole without causing it to self-destruct.  (Human beacon or not, I don't see an Earth vocalist being physically or mentally prepared for the extraordinary properties and effects one would encounter in the interior of a black hole, do you?)

His choice made, Galactus doesn't believe in wasting any time. After enhancing Dazzler's own natural power, he prepares her for the environment she'll be entering, and without further delay launches her toward her destination--though Galactus is not particularly concerned with this mission's outcome, or even the one risking her life to carry out his instructions.

...At Death's Door!

In the last months of 1979, the Fantastic Four found themselves dealing with two major problems, both of them life-threatening--and to add to the list, they were traveling through space to seek out a being whose involvement could potentially make matters worse! We'll let the esteemed Reed Richards break it down for us:

Uh, that's aging ray, Elmer... er, Reed.

Reed speaks of the FF's efforts to save Xandar, a world under siege by the Skrulls, only to be captured and sentenced to death by use of a metabolic booster designed to accelerate their aging process. But with the Sphinx en route to destroy the Earth, they've had to push their personal concerns aside and take what could be seen as the biggest gamble of their career--that Galactus will agree to their plea for assistance. But Galactus' idea of quid pro quo could doom Earth, as well--particularly when Reed appears to hastily withdraw the one condition that has kept Galactus from once again attacking the world which until now has kept his ravenous hunger at bay.

Apparently the phrase "time is of the essence" has no meaning to Galactus other than when it applies to his need for finding a planet which will satisfy his hunger--not when he has a chance to use the Fantastic Four as errand boys. Speaking of which, this should be a cinch for the FF--after all, Norrin Radd was a mortal man before being transformed to the Silver Surfer, so Reed, Sue, and Ben, even in their current condition, should have no trouble dealing with their target, especially since the Torch hasn't been afflicted as they have.

But as they'll later find to be the case with Frankie Raye, the one they seek is no ordinary man--nor is he the type to surrender before those he considers to be inferiors.

Loose Ends and Revelations!

Having recently raised an eyebrow at a Defenders tale which featured the return of Dracula to the land of the (un)living--the sight of which registered hardly any shock at all with Dr. Strange, even though the sorcerer had believed he had seen to Dracula's final death in a prior encounter--writer Roger Stern's later "fix" for that slight oversight brought to mind a number of other instances where writers were obliged to be creative in convoluted plots that were rather difficult to accept at face value, or, as was the case with Strange, a character needed to be extracted from a "tight spot" that was inadvertently left hanging and never resolved.

Following are a few such instances that sprang to mind for me, and I feel certain that many of you have some of your own to share, so please feel free to put on your thinking caps along with yours truly.  :D

---

In terms of convoluted plots, it's hard to top this little gem, which opened the door to a virtual tsunami of clone convolution that went on for decades.

Send in the clones--and send them Marvel did, starting with Gwen, who turns out to be the creation of the Jackal, a.k.a. Prof. Miles Warren, who took the original Gwen's death quite hard and decided in his deranged mind that it need not be the case.

How a clone of Gwen emerged with all of the original's memories is anyone's guess; it certainly qualifies for an entry in the PPC's Weird Science category, to be sure. The success of the Gwen-clone (and, hard on her heels, the Peter-clone) storyline spawned clone stories ad nauseam. Gwen's clone even caused a little convolution of her own down the line, giving birth to twins who were manipulated into seeking revenge against Spider-Man for their mother's death. And the identity of their father? Norman Osborn. That's right, you heard me.

The Devourer... The Titan... The End!

Not long after he gained his freedom from his imprisonment on Earth, the Silver Surfer found himself in conflict with the Elders of the Universe, who were planning to not only destroy Galactus but all reality, as well. But the Elders' scheme ended in shambles, with three of their number (the Astronomer, the Trader, and the Possessor) being hurled into a black hole, while the others...

The others faced one heck of a reckoning.

Yet Galactus didn't have as long as he thought to adapt to the essence of the Elders he'd consumed (the Grandmaster, the Runner, Champion, the Gardener, and the Collector), who had later re-formed and began attacking him from within, debilitating him with convulsions. Meanwhile, having escaped from the realm of Chaos and Order (which, to the three Elders' astonishment, was an unexpected "drop-off point" they'd arrived at after being drawn into the black hole), the Silver Surfer has come to the aid of two of the Fantastic Four against none other than the In-Betweener, who has used the power of the Soul Gem to escape his masters and their realm via the black hole, where he prepares to honor his bargain with the three who were secretly his allies.

And so the group departs for our universe, leaving the Surfer and the FF trapped in the black hole. As for Galactus, sooner or later he would have had to face the In-Betweener, to whom Galactus is "the middle force between the extremes of his realm, as I was the middle force in mine! And even had I not promised [the Elders] his death, there can be but one of us here." But even with Galactus virtually helpless in the throes of the remaining Elders' attack, can destroying him be so easy for the In-Betweener?

To rid the universe of Galactus, then, the In-Betweener decides to hurl him into the black hole--a course of action the three Elders strongly object to, since their fellow Elders remain trapped within Galactus. But as they move to attack, the In-Betweener summons Death itself to claim them, after which he hurls Galactus' ship and all aboard into the black hole--which, as we've already seen happen, ends up in the realm of Chaos and Order, which the FF and the Surfer have returned to.

Got all that so far? Believe me, it's not easy condensing one of Steve Englehart's convoluted plots!

Back in our universe, what the In-Betweener doesn't yet realize is that the Surfer has informed Chaos and Order of how their rebellious creation has now escaped them and what he's been up to; needless to say, they're not happy with the In-Betweener. And so they act to save Galactus by drawing the other Elders out of his form--and once free of his, er, indigestion, Galactus becomes obsessed with a single goal:

I would have thought flattening the Elders like pancakes would have been first on his hit list, but what do I know?

Free At Last!

If memory serves, there were six instances* where the Silver Surfer managed to escape the barrier of Galactus while trapped on the planet Earth: (1), when Loki maneuvered him into traveling to Asgard and attacking the mighty Thor; (2) when he streaked into the future, to a time when the barrier no longer existed; (3) when Mephisto dissolved the barrier in a scheme to demoralize him; (4) through his own power, after meditating for an entire year to focus on piercing the barrier; (5) relying on the Hulk's gamma radiation to increase his strength; and (6) when Reed Richards provided him with a one-time-only opportunity to pass through the barrier in accordance with a unique planetary alignment. In one way or another, all attempts met with eventual failure, the last being made in 1982.

*Add two more to the list, if you're counting his "escape" to the Microverse or the misdirection he encountered in the dimension of the Nameless One.

But nearly five years later to the month, writer Steve Englehart, together with artists Marshall Rogers and Joe Rubinstein, launched a brand new Silver Surfer series. And in its first landmark issue, the question of whether the Surfer would still be shackled to our world or, instead, would be soaring among the stars once more is immediately settled in a bold, two-page spread which indicated an entirely new direction for the character--thanks to a single word, which spoke volumes and let the reader know that the Surfer was, finally:

Up until this time, the Surfer was in another type of void, as far as his readership was concerned--consigned to the status of guest star, with the prospect of another series for him on hold due to an informal arrangement with the Surfer's original writer, Stan Lee, to allow him to maintain creative control of the character. By 1982, however, Lee had gradually made a number of exceptions to that request vis-à-vis the growing number of writers who succeeded him**--and with Lee segueing to oversee Marvel's Hollywood projects, he formally released the Surfer to their management after his collaboration with John Byrne in the '82 Silver Surfer one-shot, ending years in virtual limbo for the character's direction.

**Circa 1971, when he was made Publisher--around the time when the "Stan Lee Presents" caption began appearing on each title's splash page.

More appearances in other titles followed, until the new series by Englehart in '87 breaks new ground for the Surfer in his own book. It's a promising first issue, where once again the Surfer received aid from the Fantastic Four to break free from his prison--this time with no cloud hanging over him that practically broadcast to readers that the attempt wouldn't succeed. Instead, we see the Silver Surfer racing toward the infinite, and, at long last, to new storylines that didn't confine him to a single world.

And yet the Surfer himself realizes that there is one loose end which he'll need to confront before moving on with his life--one being who will ultimately decide whether or not he can fully embrace his newfound freedom.

The Conscience Of Galactus!

While its purpose is to presumably lay the groundwork for the "trial" of Reed Richards, which the Shi'ar Empress, Lilandra, would hold to judge his guilt for his actions in saving the life of Galactus, the August 1983 issue of Fantastic Four takes an interesting approach in that its main focus is on the world devourer himself, to the point of eclipsing the book's title characters for much of its 22 pages. Galactus, like Dr. Doom, appears to be a character that writer and artist John Byrne has a preference to bring to the foreground--no small endeavour to pull off, given how both characters present a risk of overstaying their welcome if used in excess. For Galactus, that risk can be offset by exploring different tangents to this being who has such a singular purpose--and the character is probed a great deal in this story. For while we've seen familiar instances where Galactus has resignedly accepted his apparent destiny, or where his hunger has reached a critical level, here we find him at death's door--preoccupied with meeting his final fate.

But as he'll discover, Death isn't having it.